Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[CluckNDoodle]

I take mine out at day 14 because I read something that was very similar. I'm going to stop turning my duck eggs 7 days before the hatch date just like I would with the chicken eggs because at that point the duckling should be big enough to turn themselves in the egg. I don't see a huge duckling getting stuck on the membrane because it wasn't turned.

I think us humans tend to overthink a lot of things especially when it comes to incubating. I see it all the time where people are so worried about every little detail and when I was like that, my hatch was so horrible. It seems the less I worry about stuff the better my hatches come out.

My first hatch I was by the book and listened to the incubator instructions that came with my incubator... Big mistake. they don't tell you in those booklets that if you're in a humid area you should not add water. So you can imagine the terror that I went through being on the East coast in a humid environment.

I had several chicks that I know would have lived that I think drowned because of the humidity because their air cells were small. I hate blaming myself and thinking of the what ifs, but there's nothing else I can do besides that. After that hatch I decided I wasn't going to go by the book and I was going to do my own thing.

Whatever works for you! Just keep doing it.

 

[hysop]

I take mine out at day 14 because I read something that was very similar. I'm going to stop turning my duck eggs 7 days before the hatch date just like I would with the chicken eggs because at that point the duckling should be big enough to turn themselves in the egg. I don't see a huge duckling getting stuck on the membrane because it wasn't turned.

I think us humans tend to overthink a lot of things especially when it comes to incubating. I see it all the time where people are so worried about every little detail and when I was like that, my hatch was so horrible. It seems the less I worry about stuff the better my hatches come out.

My first hatch I was by the book and listened to the incubator instructions that came with my incubator... Big mistake. they don't tell you in those booklets that if you're in a humid area you should not add water. So you can imagine the terror that I went through being on the East coast in a humid environment.

I had several chicks that I know would have lived that I think drowned because of the humidity because their air cells were small. I hate blaming myself and thinking of the what ifs, but there's nothing else I can do besides that. After that hatch I decided I wasn't going to go by the book and I was going to do my own thing.

Yes, I’m in the east coast too and on my first batch. And I had read about keeping humidity in the 45-50 range and I did so and horrible mistake, their air cells are still smaller than they should be on Day 16, so I will just remain hopeful and consider this a lesson learned to just run it dry and go from there. Because even dry it is reading 20% humidity.

 

[FortCluck]

Yes, I’m in the east coast too and on my first batch. And I had read about keeping humidity in the 45-50 range and I did so and horrible mistake, their air cells are still smaller than they should be on Day 16, so I will just remain hopeful and consider this a lesson learned to just run it dry and go from there. Because even dry it is reading 20% humidity.

Mine dry usually reads about 25% to 30%. The biggest issue was when I started getting external pips and the humidity jumped to about 80% then condensation started appearing. It was a hot mess. I learned from it though.

 

[FortCluck]

Yes, I’m in the east coast too and on my first batch. And I had read about keeping humidity in the 45-50 range and I did so and horrible mistake, their air cells are still smaller than they should be on Day 16, so I will just remain hopeful and consider this a lesson learned to just run it dry and go from there. Because even dry it is reading 20% humidity.

And wait until it rains, it will read even higher. East coast living I Love my humid hot weather though

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Yes, I’m in the east coast too and on my first batch. And I had read about keeping humidity in the 45-50 range and I did so and horrible mistake, their air cells are still smaller than they should be on Day 16, so I will just remain hopeful and consider this a lesson learned to just run it dry and go from there. Because even dry it is reading 20% humidity.

The type of incubator you're using and where you're keeping the incubator will also make a big difference on your humidity. I do go by air cell size on increasing or reducing humidity on my hatch but at the same time there is a huge variable outside of what the common air cell images show, just like everything else with incubation. I don't "worry" about air cell size too much, I just use it as a general gauge if that makes sense. Even these two images show a big difference. The orange one is probably closer to accurate. I feel like where the white image shows day 19 it actually looks more like hatch day. You can see where I marked my actual air cells on day 1 and day 18 on my Salmon Faverolle hatch and that was a 100% hatch rate.

 

[Mosey2003]

It would be cool if some of us would both track weight loss and air cell size on different sizes of eggs and be able to make a more accurate "real life" chart. I would want to choose ones that have lost just the right amount of weight so that we were sure that this was a "perfect" representation. I really ought to take the time to weigh a representative sample of mine and compare, but I don't like moving the eggs around and opening the lid that much.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

It would be cool if some of us would both track weight loss and air cell size on different sizes of eggs and be able to make a more accurate "real life" chart. I would want to choose ones that have lost just the right amount of weight so that we were sure that this was a "perfect" representation. I really ought to take the time to weigh a representative sample of mine and compare, but I don't like moving the eggs around and opening the lid that much.

I have a scale. I would consider doing this. I have lots of experience going by air cell so I guess it would just be for fun to see what the actual weight loss is as well. I'll have to wait until I have another batch of eggs to start from day 1. Should be soon.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

It would be cool if some of us would both track weight loss and air cell size on different sizes of eggs and be able to make a more accurate "real life" chart. I would want to choose ones that have lost just the right amount of weight so that we were sure that this was a "perfect" representation. I really ought to take the time to weigh a representative sample of mine and compare, but I don't like moving the eggs around and opening the lid that much.

Oooh, plus I should have both bantam eggs and standard size eggs to compare! This will be good timing for me!

 

[julskinka]

It would be cool if some of us would both track weight loss and air cell size on different sizes of eggs and be able to make a more accurate "real life" chart. I would want to choose ones that have lost just the right amount of weight so that we were sure that this was a "perfect" representation. I really ought to take the time to weigh a representative sample of mine and compare, but I don't like moving the eggs around and opening the lid that much.

I do this. Happy to share my data.

 

[Mosey2003]

I do this. Happy to share my data.

You have pictures too? That's what I mean, making a picture chart of the correct ones